Meek Finish for the Market After a Wild Week

By The Associated Press

Aug. 28, 2015

United States stocks ended the day little changed on Friday, letting investors breathe a little easier after a week during which the highs and lows were extreme.

The market gave investors a hard jolt the first two days of trading this week on concerns about the health of China’s economy. The rebound on Wednesday and Thursday was just as sharp as investors decided to scoop up beaten-up stocks.

The relatively stable Friday trading offered the owners of bruised portfolios some hope that the market was settling down.

“People are taking a little bit of a pause,” said Paul Springmeyer, senior portfolio manager at the Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank. “We’re finally winding down here where maybe we’re seeing more rational behavior.”

Five of the 10 sectors in the S.&P. 500 rose on Friday, led by gains for energy stocks. The industry group climbed 2.1 percent as the price of oil gained more than 6 percent on reports of escalating tensions in Yemen. Low oil prices had raised worries about their impact on the energy sector and the health of the global economy.

The S.&P. 500 wound up the week 1.1 percent higher than the previous Friday, but stocks are still on course for their worst monthly performance in more than three years. The S.&P. 500 is down 5.5 percent in August, and the Dow is down 5.9 percent.

Markets have been volatile since China decided to weaken its currency earlier this month. Investors interpreted that move as an attempt to bolster a sagging economy.

Traders are also jittery about the outlook for interest rates. The Federal Reserve has signaled it could raise its key interest rate for the first time in nearly a decade later this year.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 3 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.6 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng swung into a loss in the final hour of trading, dropping 1 percent. The Shanghai composite index in mainland China rose 4.8, adding to its 5.3 percent gain on Thursday, its first increase in six days. During the previous five days, it had shed nearly 23 percent.

United States crude settled at $45.22 per barrel after climbing 10.3 percent on Thursday. That was the biggest one-day jump for United States oil since March 2009. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils imported by American refineries, rose 5.2 percent to $50.05 a barrel. Brent also rose 10.3 percent on Thursday.

Freeport-McMoRan rose 31 cents, or 3 percent, to $10.50 on news that the activist investor Carl Icahn took an 8.5 percent stake in the mining company. The stock had already surged on Thursday when the company announced cost cuts because of declining copper prices.

In other futures trading on the Nymex, wholesale gasoline rose 6.8 cents to close at $1.397 a gallon; heating oil gained 8 cents to close at $1.576 a gallon; and natural gas fell 5.5 cents to close at $2.638 per 1,000 cubic feet.